With the MMO industry booming more games are coming out each month both, free and subscription, demanding your attention and dollars. It can be a little overwhelming when trying to choose the right game for you. With each game bringing something different to the table, it can be hard to find the right one for you. The following will be a series of questions that you should keep in mind when looking to start a new game. Some can be answered quite easily just from looking around on the site, while others will be much tougher to answer or even not be answerable till after you start playing, but should be kept in mind during your first few hours of gameplay.

These first few questions are about the game's official site and what you can learn from just a little browsing.

When choosing a game, you should be able to quick find some vital information when looking at the official site. What general genre does the game fall under? When was the last update? Are the servers up or down? Where can I obtain more information about the game? Failing these marks a poorly designed site. While a poorly designated site doesn't mean a poorly designated game, it can be an indicator of one.
A game guide is very important for a site to have. When you start a game, you are a fresh faced newbie. Game play shouldn't be a complete mystery to you however. The game's official site should offer you clues or tips to play. Those who leaves it up to chance that you will stumble upon some fan site that will show you maybe not the best choice in developers to trust with your entertainment.
When looking at the site you will want to see at least a quick start guide that walks you though any special steps taken in the installation process. As well as, a overview of the game's interface and base game play. Finding additional information such as server status, easy to find forums, customer support, and news are all major pluses for a site.

Frequent updates to the official site shows that the game's developers are actively working on the game. You naturally wouldn't want to waste your time on a game that has became stagnant. While frequent updates are a positive sign, they are not the only sign you should look for.
Frequent fluff posts are almost as bad as no news what so ever. What you want to see is talks of development of game features or new content. For older games redoing some graphics and animations are also acceptable, but does not take the place of more content. Without consent refreshment content becomes stale rather quickly, becoming boring.

Item malls are very popular when it comes to free to play games. With some of the more obsessive players paying far more than the normal fifteen dollars a month, that most popular subscription based games costs, it more than pays for the free players.
Item malls can hold various items. From vanity items that bears no real impact on game play, to a sword that rivals the best weapons in game, or even experience boosters which falls somewhere in the middle. Knowing what the item mall has to offer should be a factor in your decision to play a game or not. If you're not planning on sinking money into a game, do you really want to be overshadowed by players who has sunk an entire paycheck into the game?
Also, look at the items that are bought with the paid for currency. Most of the time, when buying these items they are not yours forever. Instead, it is more of a rental where you gain them for a short period of time. How this time is determined should be kept in mind.
For games that are divided into rounds, item life is usually a set number of rounds before it expires. This is more beneficial to the gamer that doesn't plan to play the game everyday.
Others are a period of time, be it days, weeks, or months. These are a bit more iffy, rewarding the player to play more during that timespan. If you're not planning on playing everyday this maybe something to keep in mind.
The final type is per use of the item. I personally prefer this, but it is normally limited to only a few items, if available at all as an option. This lets you save that tool for the perfect time, even if you do not see that situation for months, or several hundred rounds.

While not always displayed on a game's site, it is important to keep in mind. A bustling community is a must for any MMO. Some games will even boast about their numbers, with typically milestones being in the millions. While knowing the community if thriving there are a few ways companies fluff up the numbers to make a game appear more lively.
Look for the words registered users, or players. These can be used to deceive you into thinking a larger player base is active than there really is. All registered users means is someone created the account, it doesn't even mean they ever downloaded the game, same can be said for players. Active players is a safer bet, but can be fudged as well.
While a huge community can be nice on the surface, if you typically play during peak times it could mean that you will have time finding somewhere to go, or having to deal with large amounts of lag. This can be remedied by playing on another server, if they offer it, or trying a less populated area in the game world but should be considered if these numbers are available to you.

The next two questions regards free to play versions of the game, in comparison with the payed version.

When looking at a game's official site they may talk about how many quests are available, their numerous maps, or how many classes you can choose from. What they normally do not bring up is how much is restricted to the paying customer.
Glancing through the updates on the official page is one way to tell rather quickly if they are still actively developing the free to play game. When was the last non-bugfix post made for the free to play game? Do they only talk about the member's section of the game? If so that is a bad sign for the longevity if you do not wish to be forced to pay.
The item mall is another place to look. Are there any quest or adventure packages? If so another bad sign. The selling of content such as that denotes that they expect you to buy in at some point to continue on your way. While it maybe only a couple of items now, it does show the mindset of the developers.
Finally glance at the page discussing the benefits to subscribing, if available. This usually gives an itemized list of features you would be paying to receive. If there is a limit on the free to play game you can find it here.
Another way some games get you is forcing you to buy into their currency to get a start, either for use in game or for their item mall. While not all games that has item malls makes it hard to play without buying in, it is far easier to buy something for five dollars than play twenty matches for the money. While it is possible to slowly start in these games without buying in, it can difficult to get a foot hold with a well developed community.

If you are looking for a game that you don't mind sinking a few bucks into, you may want to look at the payment plans.
Games with item malls typically have you buy chunks of their game currency to use in the mall. Normally they are as low as five or ten dollars but can have chunks of currency as high as fifty dollars.
Other games have the typical subscription model, paying a flat rate per month. This typically gives you access to higher level areas and disables ad support, if there is any in the game.
Avoid those who offer both an item mall with paid for currency and a subscription. These will normally expect you to double dip, having both the subscription and buying their currency for use in the mall. This leaves you paying far more for a game than you may otherwise wish to pay.
Player vs. Player combat is very popular these days. Some games are based solely around it, while others have it as a bit of spice to their game play. If you are playing a game to play PvP or not, finding out information on how a game deals with PvP is vital for your game choice.
With the increased focus on PvP combat, it has taken the spot light in some games. Some genres pretty much require competition between players. If you don't wish to compete with others avoid fighters, sports games, and shooters. This section focuses more on the MMORPG.

With pvp combat drawing so many, developers are scrambling to come up with new and creative ways to include this crowd. Not counting shooters, which are all one form or another of player vs player, RPGs handle it in a few different ways.
The most popular way player vs player combat is handed is by having some areas designated for it. In which you enter an area and become flagged, until you leave, as attackable by others. This has its benefits as well as drawbacks. The benefit is that you can completely avoid those areas to stay away from pvp combat, or stalk them to pick off a few easy kills. The draw back is that some games include the higher level content in pvp areas, forcing you into these places if you wish to continue with the game.
For other games, once you hit a certain level you become flagged as attackable. This can also be a special rule set on a server, so you really want to pay attention to server rules. These games force you into PvP combat at some point, leaving you little choice if you do not wish to take part.
The last type is a voluntary method, where you can flag yourself for PvP at will. This lets you pick and choose if you want to take part or not, without the restrictions of areas being off limits.
Looking in the game guide on the official site should give some insight into the pvp rules of the game.

PvP combat can be handled in three ways when it comes down to game progression. It can be treated as a side show with no real gain, it can be another path to progression, complimenting the PvE aspects of the game, or it can be the only path. This will be something that you may not be able to answer for sometime, but should be in the back of your mind when it comes to your play style. If you are looking for a competitive pvp game, with your game of choice treating it more of a side show than the main event. You may even up not being happy with how pvp is handed. Like wise, where you don't like pvp and have it be the only path for progression.
Looking at news updates can give a hint at how it is handled, as well as the type of game. If the game focuses more on warfare than exportation then you maybe able to eliminate the side show path for pvp. If a lot of news items revolve around balance issues, you can also rule out the side show path.
However, if you cannot find anything in the past handful of patches that brings up pvp, and you know for a fact that pvp is in the game, then it maybe just a little side show with no really merit in progression.

The final couple questions has to do with game play. These most likely will not be answerable until you are actually playing the game.

The reason you would want to keep this in mind is for several reasons. First of all, playing as a group means that you can only move as fast as the slowest member of that group. Thus others are dictating the game's pacing and what you are doing. While a solo effort allows you to pick and choose what you want to do. Second, there are times after a rough day you just want to throw in a game to relax. The last thing you would want is to deal with someone that cannot figure out what end of the gun the bullets comes out of.
Having a game that supports group content, yet allows you to go off on your own opens up game play allowing for many more opportunities. If you are stuck in a game where you must form a group, it will be rather boring waiting to be picked up.
When I say group, I don't immediately exude shooters in this case, even though most shooters are team based. How well you can function on your own without team support is very important. If getting separated doesn't mean certain death within minutes they can fall under the soloable, even with teams.
Looking at the site may help with this answer, but I think the only way to know for sure is the first few matches of a game.

With your busy life, it can be hard to fit in time for video games. With work, school, family, and ect. all demanding your time, a game's pacing and how quickly you can make some progress is a vital decision in should you play or pass.
For sports games, racers and shooters game play is normally broken up into rounds of some sort. After a couple rounds you will be able to quickly tell the time investment to play a few rounds. If each round is a minimum of forty-five minutes to an hour long, it maybe a bit harder to fit into your day than a game that goes thirty minutes max per round.
MMORPGs are the mystery once again, with having to be tackled nearly on a game by game basis. Granted, you can make progress simply by killing a monster every so often. Where this question comes more into play is concerning the late game content. This does go hand in hand with the previous progression question, but how much time must you put in to see any rewards? Looking for a light game that only offers multipliable hour raid content in the high end is a road to heartbreak. News can give some insight, but politely asking players at or near the cap maybe best for this answer.
Social games are an entirely different beast. With games such as Second Life allowing you to create your own businesses rather than kill things, I treat them as more of a chat room. If you can quickly find something interesting, or to chat with someone then they are great. However, if you are so bogged down that it takes forever to get anywhere then you may wish to skip the game.

In conclusion, these shouldn't be your only baseline when determining if a game is right for you. There are countless factors to consider when picking your perfect game. Some of the ones on this list maybe important to you, they may not. Only you can know all the questions that are important to you. This list serves as an example and baseline for your own discovery when you make the bold step into your next game. Just don't barrel in without thinking into a new game only to waste time. Take the time to stop and look, it will save you a lot of time and frustration down the road.

Article by James McKinley, Freemmogamer.com - Posted 8/5/09